Your pastor is, no doubt, someone you selected, and you consider yourself free to walk away from him as soon as your own reading of Scripture convinces you that your "personal consultation" of the "Holy Spirit" is telling you to. That's what St. Paul calls "following itching ears," and is neither the obedience nor the submission commanded by Hebrews 13:17.
to avoid slipping back into the dark ages
You know, its funny, but you reveal yourself by that comment. The term "Dark Ages" was coined by the un-Christian so-called "Enlightenment" to describe an era when Christian faith, not the worship of Mammon, was the guiding light of every facet of society.
Well, 200+ years on into that "Enlightenment", we're living in the real Dark Ages, pal. Look around you. They're here, now. More than 100 million lives sacrificed to Communist atheism and Nazi paganism. 50 million lives sacrificed to hedonism on the altar of abortion in this country alone.
Doesn't seem very "enlightened" to me.
Of course (by following the lead of the Holy Spirit that is). God places each of us in a particular body (church) to serve for a particular time. When that time is up God will move us elsewhere. What's so hard to understand about following God's will for your life?
That's what St. Paul calls "following itching ears," and is neither the obedience nor the submission commanded by Hebrews 13:17.
No. Paul calls leaving because you don't like the preaching "following itching ears". If you leave because the pastor (priest) is apostate then how are you following itching ears? The false teachers tell us things we want to hear. In that case staying would be "following itching ears" and leaving would be the correct thing to do.
It's a pity more Catholics didn't leave the parishes of the sodomite priests for true Catholic parishes. The true teachers/pastors/etc tell us what is true, even if that sometimes causes us pain. Tough love is a distinctly Christian principle
I was lead by God to the fellowship which I attend. Being submitted to Christ, works that way for me. The spiritual growth that comes from an individual seeking God's will, keeps one in natural communion with Christ continually.
Biblically literate individuals, is true enlightenment. Hense the God blessed prosperity (spiritually) of America. Notwithstanding the blatant hypocrites you mentioned. (Which we all are to one degree or another, hopefully seeking sanctification through Christ in that area).
America has been "Missions headquarters" since much of the reformation moved here in the late 1700's.
Praise God for the "enlightened" Christians who weathered the Taliban in Afghanistan prior to WOT. Praise God for ministries like Safe Harbor, Samaritan's Purse, Voice of the Martyrs, Brother Andrew's Open Doors ministry, to name a few powerful outreaches of God going on today.
The Catholic church has been consistantly admirable in their help given to the poor. It is unfortunate that more of their outreachers aren't grounded in scripture, and centralized on sharing the gospel. Clearly, many are and do.
We can pray that a new Pope will lead them in that direction.